GMAT Strategy

Hello everyone!

I am taking the test April 30th (last possible day to take it) and need some advice for my studies until then.

My score on the GMAT TestPrep computer practice test was VERY lopsided: Q 23 V 40

Clearly my days as an ESL teacher have paid off... but what about the math?? I'm no dummy but I'm clearly out of practice.

Right now I have been working through the OG 11 and I'm about to buy another supplementary book (I'm nearly through with the PS questions).

I want to score 700+ on the real test and I'm pretty sure I'm capable but right now I'm desperate for some advice:

A) which methods I should be using to study (I can put in 4 hours/day plus 6 on the weekends)

B) which supplementary book (if any) should I buy next.

Thank you so much for your support in advance!

Sincerely,

Bazinfan

A 23 in Quant suggests you do not have the fundamental knowledge necessary to score well right now for whatever reason (e.g. years since math was last used, never learned those topics in school, etc). I suggest going back and learning the fundamental material and strategies. Personally, I would not have started with the OG11 for Quant because it is one area where you need to understand the fundamentals before moving on to the more advanced stuff. This is in contrast to verbal where if you are fluent in english or a native english speaker you *could* skip most of the easy/medium questions (I am not advising skip these at all) and move straight to the more difficult questions.

I suggest investing a few dollars in one of the math workbooks (PR or Kaplan) to revisit areas you may not have mastery of. Also, try to avoid working the more difficult problems until you've gone through that book because you do not want to sidetrack your focus (easy, medium, and medium/hard should be the questions you're looking at not hard/very hard ones). For example, many of the questions posted in our Quant forums are challenging questions (otherwise our members wouldn't need to post them) so I would stay away from that until you boost your Q into the mid to high 30s range.

Also, your verbal is very strong as it is and as such, you should probably focus your efforts on Q until you brought it up to at least 40. However, this is not to say you should neglect V completely - maybe something like 75% Q 25% V or some mix with Q more heavily weighted.

Good luck.

Hi mayonnai5e!

Thank you so much for the advice. The math is coming back to me but slowly and your advice is sound.

I'll get a hold of some Math books (PR seems to have a reputation for covering the math basics well) and post my progress as my Q score rises above my current, embarrassingly low score.

Until then!

Bazinfan